The dangers associated with having parts of towns in complete darkness due to broken street lights have been highlighted by North Kerry councillors.
Problems maintaining street lights have been raised by several councillors in all parts of the county in recent months.
It was most recently raised by Fianna Fáil councillor Jimmy Moloney at the Listowel Municipal District meeting.
He said he was dissatisfied with the level of service being provided for public lightning.
Cllr Jimmy Moloney asked Kerry County Council how many public lights are not working for three months or more in the Listowel MD.
The council told him that as of March 20th, there were 15 faults over three months in the MD.
He questioned these figures and hit out at the lack of progress being made; he said while he appreciates that there’s been bad weather, the winter is now over and there is still no progress.
Cllr Moloney stated the lights in Clieveragh have been out since July, and he told the meeting others have been reported as not working since October and further lights were reported as needing to be fixed in December.
He says there are seven or eight lights in Listowel town centre that have been out all winter.
Cllr Jimmy Moloney noted that there was a need for historic lights to be ordered but was critical that these are only being ordered now; he called for these historic lights to be ordered in stock before next winter to prevent further delays fixing lights.
His call for action was supported by fellow councillors, with Independent councillor Liam Speedy Nolan saying there have been close calls as people are crossing the town’s roads in the dark and this was echoed by Sinn Féin’s Tom Barry who said people were doing the right thing by using the pedestrian crossing in the town but said as a result they were in complete darkness.
The councillors acknowledged that Kerry County Council staff were doing their best but they sought action to address the issue.
